GinBoy2

I'm a native Central Valley guy. Lived most of my adult life either in the Bay Area or San Diego and I still love San Diego county, my youngest daughter and my Grandson still live there. But OMG I just couldn't live with the traffic and all the people anymore. Daughter is contemplating a move to North Carolina, which I'm not thrilled about, but I get it

I vividly remember being in the lunch room at work as we watched the verdict One guy said "Lets all go and loot Best Buy"

Well, the truth for anyone speaking a second language is you lose some of the nuances, but if you speak nothing you lose it all. I have a friend who has joined Mrs G and me in Mexico. Now I'm Hispanic so Spanish is a native language, he speaks pretty good Spanish, but even then when we are with my family he loses some of the essence, especially the humor of conversation. My wife just looks bemused she speaks not a lick of Spanish past Ola! In Thailand I do OK, I'm pretty fluent in Thai and Lao, but they are my 4th and 5th languages, I wouldn't even try to say I understand all of the nuances when I talk to folks So I'd say unless you live in the expat enclaves, not speaking any Thai is very detrimental. Apart from anything else, for a lot of folks it means you are very dependent on your partner for almost any transaction you do, from the bank, market or immigration

Back to the OP Everywhere can run it's course, you just kinda tire of a place. Over my life I've tired of California, China, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Not to say I hated any of them, but I was just done with them. Maybe some of us just aren't built to stay in one place for too long. Now I think I'm done with my world travels, and as boring as it sounds, I hate spending a night away of home. I've spent more than my fair share of nights in hotel beds Now just leave me at home with the missus and the cats, I'm a happy boy

I don't often agree with a lot Dan spews, but in this one I kinda do. When divorced my ex wife it's painful, mother of two of my wonderful kids, but we'd drifted apart and it happened. When we did all settle up, we did it quite amicably, she kept the house that she lived in, I hadn't for years, and we split everything. I know some divorce's are messy, but a surprising amount aren't. I had no problem splitting our stuff. She'd worked during all of our marriage and brought up the kids, so there was a premium she could have added to that Today I count her as my best friend, we'll talk on the phone couple of times a week, when we all get together at the Grandkids homes, she and my current Thai wife gleefully exchange stories about my flaws! I think where men lose their frikkin minds and any common sense is when a divorce goes badly, they visit Thailand meet the first pretty girl who shows them attention, the frontal lobes become dormant, and the little brain takes over

So, if you take out the old guy with money, and the poor as dirt Isaan maiden marriages, there is a certain physical attraction of different ethnicities to each other. Take a walk in downtown San Francisco, and I'd bet 50% of the couples walking holding hands are, white guy, asian woman. In that situation there is none of the sweaty old guy young woman money dynamic, it's just attraction. That might be why in BKK, it's a younger population with male expats (the real ones who work not the long stay retirees who call themselves expats) and that natural attraction happens

It's sad actually. After the collapse of the USSR and the utter turmoil as it broke up I along with at least most of us thought Russia was emerging as a real Western democracy. Boy, was I wrong. Under Putin it's basically reverted to the old Soviet Russia, but actually worse, Soviet Russia but run by the mafia and it seems that Russians in general seem to be OK with that, and in some ways they mirror their leaders

What exactly does a monarch actually do? They rubber stamp parliament's bills, they have no actual power. Open a few new roads, make an appearance at an old peoples home maybe. At least a President, love or hate them actually do a real job, and if you hate the job they do you get rid of them at the next election As much as we Americans seem obsessed by them as a tabloid spectacle, we don't have to pay for them! So as long as you want them, go for it, but I'd say Versailles is still one Hell of a tourist attraction, even without the Sun King.

They are indeed. There is a reason why tourist visas are so hard to get, because the history of Thai's overstaying! In my wife's circle of Thai friends here in South Dakota, only her and one other came here legally, all the rest overstay until eventually they ended up marrying and getting an adjustment of status. How many Thai's are in South Korea as overstay? I bet anyone who lives outside Bangkok with a Thai wife knows at least one. Good luck with this Mr Cameron, cos you're gonna need it, great story for illegal immigration control!

Thats exactly what I have. When you first do it takes a couple of days for your brain to sort it out, but somehow it does. I can close my reading eye and I can't read. Close my distance eye and I can't see distance. Both eyes open and bingo my sight is perfect. The human brain is pretty incredible how it works it all out

It's funny your brain hasn't figured it out I wear contacts, and I have a distance eye and a reading eye, and I have no idea how it works but somehow my brain sorta figures it all and I see perfectly. BTW the prescription in the two eyes is wildly different. So I can't see any reason why you can't do what you propose

BTW Thank You Holland for stepping up and taking some of the burden from the rest of us. Americans, Brit's, Aussies we all have our time in the barrel, nice to see someone else filling the limelight Now where are the Belgians......

I think these guys fell into the trap of buying into the SE Asian woman stereotype. It's some weird belief that all asian women are somehow hyper sexualized. Of course the Thai sex industry doesn't exactly help in dispelling that myth, which is well documented far and wide. So lets say a couple of, not the sharpest tools in the toolshed guys show up. They've heard the stories, bought into the myth and bingo here we are!

My wife started to go gray about 10 years ago, and she also was plucking them out. Eventually she bowed to the inevitable and just gave up. I rather like her salt and pepper look, it's kinda sexy if you ask me. As for men dying their hair, just don't!

I couldn't have ever left my kids behind. There is a myth that all break ups are acrimonious. They may be painful but they don't have to be bad. I still talk to my ex every week, mother of my daughters and I'd count her as my best friend. I travelled a lot, probably too much for work and we just drifted apart. Fast forward to today and I think I have it all. We have grandkids, from my American daughter and my Thai son. We all get together, we all kinda get along We recently all got together for my American grandson(although my Thai grandson is also American) first birthday in San Diego It was a great time. One of the more disturbing parts was my wife and ex wife trading stories on my various faults!

Thats what a lot of these guys just don't get. A lot of the fun of life is actually growing old together. Might not, well actually not the bodies you had 20, 30 years ago, but in those years you learn to know someone. We watch TV and I know when she will laugh. We go to dinner she will order for me, she knows what I want. Those are the silly things that make a relationship

Yeah you are exactly the type I'm referering too!

And you you think thats right? Hopefully most grown men treat women with some respect. Unfortunately many who relocate to Thailand seem to regard woman as a commodity to be bought and traded. The sex trade in Thailand goes way beyond the transaction and insidiously affects mens attitudes to women

Have you ever walked in a mall? The typical western male, old, fat, bald slopping around with a 20 something and a couple of rugrats!

Over my lifetime I've spent a lot of money on pet(cats) health. Sometimes it worked out, sometimes not. Would I do it again, Hell Yes. My cats have always been like children to me, and ฿1000, $30 small price to pay

I'm a little disturbed by some of the attitudes here. We all start off with physical attraction, thats how nature works. But if you truly develop affection and love that becomes secondary. How many of us are the adonis we were when we were 20 or 30? Beer Belly? How many of you have lost your hair? Trouble with living in Thailand is sometimes, 60 year old men revert to High School locker talk when talking about women without having a look in the mirror

I had a bit of a different take on the wife. Assuming that this is a real marriage, regardless of the fact that he does seem to be a dick, she probably loves him and in the space of a few days her world is shattered. He's going to prison(?) and deported. I have no idea what it takes to get a foreign wife into Switzerland but I'm making the leap that it's time consuming and expensive as it is for most Western countries

So Bob, I gotta ask the glaring question. So if you leave are you going without Mrs Bob, if indeed you are married? If you are just going to up sticks and leave without her, I'm making the leap that maybe she is part of the reason to leave. When left I couldn't even leave my cat behind, she came too!

In some respects I sorta understand where he's at I was bored, and the more bored I got silly things would irritate me, or I'd blow things out of proportion. Thats when you 'should' know it's time to throw in the towel and walk away. Life is short and if something just ain't working for you, move on and try something different

Hmmm, well to concur with others, if a full scale nuclear war was indeed to happen, let me be at ground zero and vaporize me in a second. Regardless of where you were the ensuing nuclear winter would reduce humanity to some primeval state. We watch post apocalypse TV shows and movies as fiction, but after a real nuclear war pretty much what the world would be headed for